Oyster-tongs



No. 6l8,873.

Patented Fab. 7, I899. W. L. HARPER. OYSTER 'TDNGS. (Application filed Jan 4 1899 (No Model.)

ai W cams PETERS (10.. wcfl'o-L'n'no-v WASHINGTON n c UNITED STATES WVILLIAM L. HARPER, OF KENT ISLAND, MARYLAND.

OYSTER-TONGS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 618,873, dated February 7, 1899.

Application filed January 4, 1898. Serial No 665,578. (No model.)

vented a new and useful Improvements in Oyster-Tongs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to oyster-tongs, and has for its object to improve their construction and extend their usefulness.

NVith this object in view my invention consists in a pair of oyster-tongs comprising a pair of handle-bars connected together at about one-fourth of the distance from their outer ends to their handles and a pair of arms pivoted about centrally of their length at the outer end of each bar, said arms being pivotally connected at their inner ends and provided with jaws at their outer ends and stops at their inner ends to limit their opening movement.

My invention further consists in the improved construction, arrangement, and combination of parts hereinafter fully described and afterward specifically pointed out in the claims.

In order to enable others skilled in the-art to which my invention most nearly appertains to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe its construction and operation, having reference to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in Which Figure l is a perspective view of a pair of oyster-tongs constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is aview, on an enlarged scale, in side elevation of the outer ends of the arms, including their pivots, with the supplementary arms or tongs attached thereto and shown closed in full lines and open in dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a view illustrating the same in edge elevation. Fig. dis a fragmentary'detail perspective view, on an enlarged scale, of the pivoted inner ends of the supplementary arms or tongs.

Like letters of reference indicate the same parts wherever they occur in the various figures of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings by letters, A and B are two bars made of the usual material and size for oyster-tongs. These bars are pivotally connected together at C, a point about one-fourth the distance from their outer ends to their handles. By means of pins or rivets D and E the arms F and G are pivotally connected at about their mid-length to the outer end of the bars A B, their outer portions being formed as jaws H and I and their inner portions being pivoted together at J, one of them being bent atK to form a stop to prevent them from opening too Wide. These jaws may be constructed at their ends in any suitable manner to serve the purpose for which they are intended-namely, the tonging of oysters-and I have illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3 extended jaws L for this purpose, although this part of the structure may be Varied to suit the fancy of the manufacturer or user.

From the foregoing description the construction of my invention will be apparent, audits operation may he described as follows: The parts being in the position shown in full lines in Fig. 2, the operator grasping the handles will drop the outer ends of the bars into the water and by throwing them apart will also separate their lower ends, carrying the pivots D and E to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. During this operation the jaws H and I will also be carried to the position shown in dotted lines in that figure, which will be a considerable distance farther apart than would be possible if these jaws were connected directly to the end of the tong-handles A and B. During the movement of the arms apart the jaws will move in the same direction, but at a greater speed, owing to the fact that they are connected at their upper ends by means of the pivot j. This permits of the opening of the jaws themselves much wider than they could be opened if rigidly connected to and in line with the handles. I

In using oyster-tongs it is well known that the upper ends can only be spread a certain distance apart for the reason that they are grasped in the hands of the tonger, the arms being pivoted at about the point illustrated in the drawings. In order to give the proper leverage, the lower ends of the arms can only be opened to about one-third the distance that the handles are separated in the hands of the tonger. This circumscribes the amount of ground to be covered by the jaws, and as a consequence of this the provision which I make for the jaws to be extended wider apart with the same movement of the hands is a great advantage over the ordinary tongs. XVhen the jaws have been extended, as shown in dotted lines, the points of the jaws will rest upon the ground, and where no provision is made to prevent it there would be a tendency for the jaws to continue their motion on their pivots until their inner pivoted ends passed below the line of the pivots which connect the jaws to the ends of the handles. This would render the tongs useless, because when the arms were again brought together the jaws would be thrown upward back to back. To prevent this, Ihave extended one arm slightly beyond the other at their inner pivotal ends and have bent them sidewise, forming the stop K, which when the proper state of separation of the jaws has been reached will contact with the edge of the other arm, as clearly shown in the detail view, Fig. 4, which will prevent the further extension of the jaws and render it impossible to bring them together otherwise than as shown in full lines in Fig. 2, when the handles are close together.

IVhile I have illustrated and described the best means now known to me for carrying out my invention, I do not wish to be understood as restricting myself to the exact constructions shown and described, but hold that any slight changes or variations such as might suggest themselves to the ordinary mechanic would properly fall within the limit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. A pair of oyster-tongs comprising two handle-arms crossing each other and pivoted together intermediate of their ends, and two arms, carrying jaws at their outer ends, pivoted at about their mid-length to the outer ends of the handle-arms and pivoted together at their inner ends between the handle-arms, substantially as described.

2. A pair of oyster-tongs comprising two handle-arms crossing each other and pivoted together intermediate of their ends, two arms, carrying jaws at their outer ends, pivoted at about their 1nid-length to the outer ends of the handle-arms, and pivoted together at their inner ends between the handle-arms, and a stop to end the opening movement of the jaws before the jaw-arms reach positions in line with each other, substantially as described.

3. A pair of oyster-tongs comprising two handle-arms crossing each other and pivoted together intermediate of their ends, two arms, carrying jaws at their outer ends, pivoted at about their mid-length to the outer ends of the handle-arms and pivoted together at their inner ends between the handle-arms, one of said arms being extended beyond the point where it is pivoted to the other and bent laterally to form a stop to limit the opening movement of the jaws, substantially as described.

4. The oyster-tongs herein described, c011- sisting of the handle-arms A and B crossing each other and pivoted together at G intermediate of their ends, the jaw-arms F and G, the pivots D and E connecting the jaw-arms at about their mid-length with the outer ends of the handle-arms, the pivot J connecting the jaw-arms together at their inner ends, and the stop K formed on the arm G by bending it laterally and adapted to strike the arm F when the jaws are opened to their fullest extent, substantially as described.

WM. L. HARPER.

Witnesses:

J. F. RUTH, WM. '1. KEATING. 

